Disney treasures to come up for bid at S/R Labs’ Fall 2009 auction

Jim Hill

15 years ago

You’ve going to have to forgive any animation fans you know
if they seem kind of distracted today.

You see, S/R Laboratories is holds its biannual animation
art auction today and tomorrow. Which means that some incredibly rare pieces of
animation history are about come up for bid.

“How rare?,” you ask. Well, how about a preliminary
animation drawing from the aborted version of “Pinocchio” ? If you look closely
at the image below, you’ll see that this early take on Pinocchio looked far
like a puppet than this character in the finished Disney film did.

Walt reportedly chucked six months worth of work on “Pinocchio”
and started that production all over again because he felt that that film’s
title character wasn’t sympathetic enough.

But that’s what Disney used to do back in the day. He’d
entire cut sequences that were already in production – no matter how funny they
might have been – if Walt felt that they didn’t further the story.

Such was the case with the bed-building sequence for “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.” According to animators who worked on that part
of the picture, this proposed sequence from “Snow White” was loaded with great
business for the Dwarfs (like those two story sketches below. Which show Grumpy
using a handy beaver to sharpen the pencil he’s using as that dwarf marks up a
piece of wood). But because this comic construction sequence didn’t push along
the plot, out it went.

That’s the real beauty of S/R Laboratories’ biannual
animation art auction. All of these items that were supposedly lost to the ages
decades ago suddenly magically appear again. Albeit briefly. Until some
animation fan with deep pockets comes along and snags them up away. Then back
into the shadows these pieces go.

Which is why I always make a point of picking up a copy of the catalog for
each of S/R Laboratories’ auctions. That way, long after the bidding is over, I can still get a look at Mary Blair’s concept painting for “Alice in Wonderland.”

Or – better yet – that sketch of a Peruvian girl that Ms.
Blair did back in 1941. Back when Mary was touring South America with Walt
& El Grupo.

Me personally? I love the what-might-have-been stuff. Like
this story sketch from the version of “Peter Pan” that Walt was trying to make
in the late 1930s / early 1940s. Back when Nana was supposed to journey to
Neverland along with Wendy, Michael & John.

Though I have to admit that I also have a weakness for all
the concept paintings that you’ll find in S/R Labs’ Fall 2009 catalog. Like the
beautiful pastel below that Mel Shaw did for Disney’s “The Fox and the Hound.”

Given that we’re just days away from Halloween, I thought
that I’d close out today’s article with a scary concept painting of the Witch from “Snow White” …

… as well as two story sketches from Tim Burton’s “The Nightmare Before Christmas.”

Which are just two of the 237 treats that will come up for
bid today & tomorrow at S/R Labs’ Fall 2009 Animation Art Auction.

For further information on this biannual event, please click
on this link.